Product Description

The search for a viable route to India was, since the mid XV Century, the main goal of almost all expeditions made by the Portuguese Kingdom. In 1488 Bartolomeu Dias rounded the Cape of Good Hope and Pedro da Covilha found a land route, but it was only in 1498 that Vasco da Gama reached the goal and became the first European to reach, after some stops along the way, the legendary Calicut by sea. Vasco da Gama made an exceptional accomplishment, granting Portugal the possibility to achieve the monopoly of the spice trade between India and Europe.

Recruit workers, buy projects, build ships. Use this ships to open new commercial routes to eastern Africa and India, to earn money and glory.

Product Information

Language Requirements:
Game components are language-independent.
Manufacturer's rules are printed in multiple languages (including English).
This is an international edition or domestic edition of an imported item.

Contents:

1 Game board

1 Round Marker (1 small white disc)

1 First Free of Charge Action Marker (1 white pawn)

35 Project/Ship Tiles

6 Merchant Ship Tiles

4 Scoring Markers in each of the Players' colors

4 Character Tiles

1 Label Sheet

9 Vasco Da Gama Tiles

22 Sequence Number cylinders

16 Action Discs in each of the 4 Players colors

4 Additional Action Discs in each of the 4 Player colors

28 Captain pawns in the 4 Player colors

32 Sailors in 4 colors: turquoise, violet, grey, orange

6 Missionaries (6 human shapes in white)

48 Coins (34 of 1 Real, 14 of 5 Reals)

1 Cotton Bag

Product Reviews

An opportunity presented itself to see a demo of Vasco da Gama
recently and learn about the rules. Our rules explainer said we would
not play the game, but she would explain the rules thoroughly. That
she did.

Something then happened. Everyone wanted to stay after the first hour
of rule explaining and play the game. We started a four-player game.
It not only looked like fun, but it also had a tremendous element of
strategy with it.

As the four of us commented in attempting to play, the little white
pawn placed next to one of the 20 numbers made all the difference.
Each small tan disc had a number taped on it from 1 to 20. The small
little white pawn was placed at number 5 in all the rows of numbers in
the middle of the board. That meant that five was the first circled
white number on the tiles called Free of Charge markers. Players
began their choice of numbers.

As one looks at the board certain areas have to be considered in the
four actions that can be taken. You have already received 10 reals or
dollars, one captain of your color, and four action disks. Let's say
you consider the board area with the personalities for your first
action. You have already taken a tan disc labeled "4." Therefore,
unless anyone chooses 1-3 you will go first in the numbered placement.
You look at the personalities of King Manuel (extra turn), Dias (2
victory points and the player to start the next round), the priest,
Francisco Alvares (one missionary weeble and one more at the end of
the round), and the Merchant (right to send a merchant ship on a
voyage and placed on a ship slot immediately). All personalities have
their good and bad points.

Now, let's say for the first turn the orange player (color
designate) chooses for his labeled "4" to work on the Projects Area.
The project tiles (seven) are already laid down on their blank sides
with two numbers showing. One of the ship projects is called the Sao
Gabriel, and it is launched first in the sequence of 1-20 numbers with
the lowest number placed on Sao Gabriel.
Cost of projects from your Real supply is one for one project and four
for two projects. Most people opt for paying one real for one ship
project.

Let's suppose you as the orange player don't like the personalities or
the ship projects as your first choice. You go for the reals Area and
place your tan disc and expect reals for your efforts. These reals
have already been determined for the Area by the Free of Charge tile
drawn at the beginning of each round.

More choices still remain. The orange player as well as all other
players are acutely aware that a ship to be launched from the ship
projects needs to possess a captain and sailors. The sailors are
determined by the project chosen in the project area. In the upper
right hand corner of the ship project tile it will say "4," for
example. That means you need four different colored sailors to launch
that ship. They could be colored blue, orange, purple, or white
(missionaries). Therefore, it is important to accumulate sailors of
different colors for different voyages. The sailors assigned to the
voyage are discarded back into the Discard Bag at the end of that
player's turn.

Let's see what we have said so far. We have three phases to each round:

Place action discs and choose areas for that placement,
whether Numbers, Projects, Reals, Sailors and Captains, and Personalities.

Take actions, including the purchase of projects, recruiting
of sailors and cqptains, and allocating of expeditions of ships.

Navigate with merchant ship and all project ships. If the
merchant ship was not placed in Phase 2, have the player using the
Merchant ship put out to sea.

For the time being, let's turn to the part of board for East Africa
labeled with different numbers. These board slots allow us to place
ship projects. When all horizontal rows are filled for numbers, then,
the whole row is slid upwards. Therefore, some ships will not be able
to slide upwards and will be "lost at sea." Examples will provide
some ideas. Let's say you placed your ship on a white row space
labeled "4." Then, on the next round you can move your ship project
upward to "5," depending on whether the previous row was finished.
Now in the upper rows, you might have a "7" project tile and only
"9's" are available. You could not move your ship project to that
space. However, if you have a "7" and "6" labeled spaces you could
place your ship project.

As you look at East Africa let's take Mozambique, Mombasa, and
Malindi. One always looks at the number of victory points and reals
to be earned by the placement of your ship project on that row. In
Mombasa, for example, you could earn two reals by the first placement
of your ship project. By filling an entire row with yours or other
ships you could earn three victory points. The name of the game is
victory points. Now, let's suppose the black ships fills the last two
spots while you have filled the first two rows with your ships. Black
earns two points indicated on his ship project (little round circles
on edge of tile) and three points for the landing. Black earns an
additional three points for his other ship, which does not have any
small circles on the ship project. The row is now complete and can be
shifted to the next level in the next turn. It is important to be
constantly aware of what ships can drop off the row because of weak
numbers and 'lost at sea."

What I particularly liked about the game was the ability to steal
personalities back and forth and use their abilities. Sometimes you
are King Manuel and sometimes you are not. You have to constantly be
concerned about having enough captains for your ships. You are alert
to what other players are doing with numbered tan discs from 1 to 20.
The dynamics of choosing these numbers needs to occur with each drawn
new Free of Charge Action Marker to shift the blank white pawn around
the numbers. It is important to launch enough ship projects for the
rows . . . and just enough ships to pay for.

Suppose because of your low real account bank account, you can't carry
out one of your actions. For example, in the ship project area you
can't afford the ship after placing tan disc and must decline. You
simply take the three reals and plan better next time.

The interaction with the other players makes the game highly dynamic
and constantly absorbing. Once a person has mastered the intricacies
of the three phases, the game moves at a fast pace with everyone vying
for the best numbered tan discs to conserve income. I would rate the
game highly playable, and Go, Diaz, to find the new world.

Even if I ultimately do not enjoy the game itself, I am always delighted
when I find a game that has an original mechanism. When the game
proves to be thoroughly engaging, challenging and tense, then it will
likely be a big hit and become a personal favorite. Vasco da Gama by
designer Paolo Mori shows every sign of becoming just that – a personal
favorite.

Published by What's Your Game?, Vasco da Gama casts players as
wealthy ship owners vying to obtain the vast riches available along the
African coast. In order to succeed, players must first obtain contracts,
outfit their ships, enlist the aid of influential Portuguese nobles and
hierarchy, and set sail for the African ports. All of this must be
accomplished within very tight financial constraints. Players must
carefully coordinate all of these tasks, while staying one step ahead of
their eager opponents. Fabulous riches and lasting fame await the
player who is the most successful.

Players each receive four action discs, a captain, one of the four special
characters, and a starting supply of ten reals (coins). The game is
played over the course of five rounds, after which the victor is
determined.

First, let's examine the creative method and ramifications of selecting
the numbers (there are twenty number tokens), which will ultimately
determine the order in which players execute the various actions. Each
round, a Vasco da Gama tile is revealed which indicates the number
upon which the "free action" marker is initially placed. Later in the
round, another tile will be revealed which will move that marker from -3
to +3 spaces. Every number that is located at or above the space
occupied the marker is free to the players, while very action below
where the marker is located costs the players 1 real per space below
the marker. For example, if the marker is located on 10 space, then
actions 10 – 20 are free. If a player has action #7, it will cost the
player three reals to execute the action.

It is important to note that players will select the action numbers
BEFORE the free action marker is moved. So, players must guess how
far and in what direction the marker will move. As the game progresses
through its five rounds, players can make an educated guess based on
which tiles have already been revealed. However, one can never be
quite sure just how or in which direction the marker will move. So, it is
best to have enough cash on hand to pay for the actions if the marker
descends on the chart, which is far easier said than done!

Beginning with the player who holds the Bartholomeu Dias tile, players
alternate taking one of the available number tokens and then placing it
along with one of their four discs into one of the four possible action
areas. Players will do this four times, using all of their action discs.
Each of board area can only accommodate five or six discs, so players
must be sure to place their discs in the areas they desire before they
are filled.

This number selection and action placement process is at the heart of
the game and requires very careful planning. Not only is there the
consideration of the potential cost of the action, but players must also
plan the actions they will take during the upcoming turn. These actions
often must be done in a specific sequence, as it is no use to plan on
sending a ship on a voyage if the proper crew has not yet been
assembled. More than once in each of the games I've played, players
have improperly planned the sequence of their actions, much to their
detriment. This is also the longest part of each turn, as there is often
so much to consider, it takes players an appreciable amount of time to
contemplate their options.

Now what about those actions? The board is divided into five sections,
one of which houses the number tokens, bank and Vasco da Gama tiles,
while the other four are the action spaces. These are the areas onto
which players will place their discs to indicate the actions they desire to
take. Players will execute actions in ascending order, so choosing a low
number will allow the player to go earlier in the turn, but it carries with it
considerable financial risk.

Recruiting Area. This area contains four windows, each containing up to
five crew members. There are four different specialties (colors), and
each ship must have a certain number of crew members, each of a
different color. In addition, the area contains six captains for each
player. When a player takes this action, he may purchase as many
crew members from ONE window he desires. The cost depends upon the
number of different colors he takes. If he takes crew members of just
one color, he pays only one real, no matter how many tokens he takes.
This cost rises up to a maximum of ten reals if a player takes crew
members of all four colors.

In addition to crew, a player may also hire a captain. The cost is one
real per crew member hired. Thus, the more crew hired, the more
expensive the captain. Crew and captains do not have to be
immediately assigned to a ship. Rather, they can be maintained until a
ship is ready to sail.

Projects Area. Six ship contracts are available for purchase. Contracts
list the number of crew needed – all of different colors – the rewards
they generate when at sea (coins or victory points), and the highest
port they can visit. I'll explain this when explaining the Navigation area.
Players may purchase one or two contracts. One contract costs only
one real, while two contracts cost the player four reals. Contracts are
not complete until a player allocates the required crew and captain to
it.

In addition to the six normal contracts, there is one special Sao Gabriel
project. The cost to acquire this contract is one real per crew member
the ship requires. However, the ship comes complete with a crew. Only
a captain needs to be assigned. Thus, while this may be more
expensive in terms of reals, it is often a good deal as it saves the time
and finances of acquiring the required crew.

Navigation Area. This is where players launch their ships, sailing them
to the six different ports along the African coast. Each port can
accommodate a certain number of ships, with each space carrying a
value ranging from 4 – 11. Natal is the lowest and smallest port on the
map, with space for only one ship of a value of 4. The number of ships
a port can accommodate increases the further up the map one
progresses. For example, the port of Mozambique has space for three
ships, with values of 6, 5 and 4, while Calicut – the largest port – can
accommodate six ships with values ranging from 7 – 11.

As long as space is available, a ship can sail to any port the player
desires. However, it can only fill a space if the number listed on the
ship is greater than or equal to the value listed on the space. So, a
ship with a value of "7" can land in any space whose value is 7 or
lower. It is quite possible for players to land their ships so as to block
the landing of their opponent's ships. Going earlier in turn order is
certainly beneficial when attempting this maneuver.

When a ship first lands, it will earn a number of victory points equal to
the value of the space. These points are significant, and they present
the players with a dilemma: place a ship on the highest possible space
in order to earn more victory points, or place it on a lower valued space
to potentially block an opponent. In addition, a player earns a port
bonus when initially landing a ship. The bonus varies by port, and can
be an additional ship contract, a crew member, a captain or reals.
Securing a needed item often takes priority over potentially higher
victory points.

Character Area. There are four characters available, as well as two
chests of reals. Players each begin the game with a character, but
they can be recruited from them by another player. Characters grant a
variety of abilities, including victory points, a missionary (which serves
as a fifth type of crew), an extra action or a merchant ship, which can
be used to acquire a port bonus and/or block an opponent's ship
placement. The powers of the characters are quite useful, and skillful
use of them can result in some very clever maneuvers. Instead of
selecting a character, a player may opt to select one of the two chest
of money available, the amount in each varying from turn-to-turn.
Money is usually in short supply, so this is a good influx of income – if
you can beat your opponents to it.

Once players have taken all of their actions, players receive income from
their ships in port as specified on the counters. The ports are then
examined from top-to-bottom, and if a port is completely filled, ships
located there will attempt to sail to the next highest port. Before
sailing, each ship in the filled port earns additional victory points
(ranging from 1 – 5) as listed on the port. Beginning with the ship
nearest the coast, players then move their ships to the next highest
port, IF a space is available. They must follow the same placement
rules as when initially landing, but no new victory points or bonuses are
earned. Again, players are faced with the choice of landing the ship at
a space that grants more victory points, or occupying a lower-valued
space to deny an opponent the opportunity to land. Any ships that
cannot legally land are discarded, with the captain being returned to its
owner.

This navigation aspect encourages players to begin their initial landing of
ships along the lower coast. Then, as ports fill, the ships will sail up the
coast, collecting more victory points each time a port fills. The danger,
of course, is that one might be blocked entry into a port by opponent's
ships or merchant ships. Placing one's ship first in a port decreases this
likelihood, but does not completely eliminate the danger.

After the fifth round, players may launch any ships to which they can
assign the required crew and captain, receiving three victory points for
each shipped launched. Additional victory points are earned for every
three reals. The player with the most points becomes the wealthiest
ship owner in Portugal, and wins the game.

Vasco da Gama is a rich game, filled with lots of options and difficult
decisions. While the game does fall into the category of "worker
placement", the game goes beyond that label. The system affords wide
latitude for clever play by creatively combining the different possible
actions and characters. I have been impressed by the clever
maneuvers players have executed, and have performed a few myself. I
always appreciate games that allow players to exercise some creativity
in their actions.

I also appreciate the originality of several game mechanisms, particularly
the method of selecting the number tokens that determine the order in
which actions will be performed. There is a lot to consider during this
phase, and the potential costs add a bit of risk to the proceedings.

The only drawback is the length of the game, which has been taking us
2 ½ - 3 hours to complete. I don't mind longer games, but it is an
obstacle to many gamers. The estimated time on the box is 1 – 2
hours, but I don't see us getting under the two hour mark. There simply
are too many choices to make. Again, I don't mind this at all, but for
some, it is a turnoff.

I am excited about Vasco da Gama, and consider it to be in the top tier
of games released in 2009. It has many of the elements that appeal to
me, and it should be quite popular with folks who enjoy strategy-heavy
games. It is likely a bit too involved and complex to be considered for
the Spiel des Jahre, but it should be a strong contender for the
International Gamers Award. It is a journey well worth taking … over
and over again.

Other Resources for Vasco da Gama:

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